I threw up a proposed trade in the Fan Shots involving Aldridge, Rondo, Howard and Ryan Anderson, and some extraneous pieces, and it was interesting to see everyone's reaction. I really want no part of trading Aldridge, and so I went back to the drawing board and came up with a different scenario I wanted to get everyone's take on.

Portland gets:
Rondo
J.Harper
C.Duhon
Celtics #22

Magic get:
#6, #11, Celtics #21
Batum
N.Smith
S.Williams

Celtics get:
Howard
J.Rich
Portland #41
Magic #49

Orlando gets a good to great player in Batum, a bunch of first rounders (four including their own pick), sheds some dead weight, and most importantly moves past the Howard drama. Boston gets Howard and a couple chances to strike it rich (and cheap) in the second round, and most likely D.Will in free agency.

Finally, Portland gets to pair Rondo with Aldridge, and gets a promising young stretch four in Harper. Plus they still have some cap room to go after a good big. For this team in particular my personal preference would be to try and get McGee. I know he is a knuckle head, but with the right coach, and some veteran leadership, that can hopefully be managed. He's been a beast in these playoffs.

Potential lineup:

Rondo/Duhon/Machado(#40)
Matthews/E.Will/Diebler
Babbitt/J.Taylor(#22)/B.Simmons
Aldridge/J.Harper/K.Thomas
McGee/Freeland/Przybilla

Put Babbitt and Matthews in the corners (that way their ball-handling issues aren't as big of a problem), and then run pick and roll with Rondo and Aldridge, or Rondo and McGee all night long. With #22 you get Taylor, a good set shooter who is very athletic, in case Babbitt just can't cut it. And with your other pick you get Machado, a PG with a similar game to Rondo, who can hopefully relegate Duhon to third string a few weeks into the season.

Defensively, Rondo and Matthews together could cause nightmares, and combined with McGee and Alridge inside could cover up some of Babbitt's liabilities.

I don't know, I think that would be some pretty fun basketball to watch...